Instagram Feed

Here is another vibraphone that I have for sale, but a different beast completely. Whereas the Premier 751 is practically immaculate, this vibe needs some TLC.

As you will have seen from the video, there are a few issues to be resolved, the main one being the pedal mechanism. If it were my instrument I would just make a new frame with a whole new pedal system. “Just” says the man who does this for a living!

The note beds were rebuilt a few years ago. The horrible paint was stripped off to reveal the lovely English Oak beneath which I then varnished. Instruments just aren’t made with this timber anymore, probably due to its rarity and cost. Basically we should blame the landed gentry for whom us plebeians have been working for in penury for centuries, they stripped our beautiful country of all its majestic trees and were too tight, lazy or ignorant to have the foresight to plant some replacements. Nothing changes. So from that perspective, this instrument is a valuable rarity.

It is a while ago now, so my memory of what I actually did is vague, but I think that I had to do some modifications to the high end to hold the motor more securely or make is removable, or something along those lines. Whilst mentioning the motor, I won’t do any work to that, it would be condemned, so I strongly advise that is not be used.

What I really like are the note cord tensioners. So easy to use and very effective. Also the little plates to protect the wood from the cord are a really nice feature seen on a lot of these old instruments. The bushes that the fan shafts rotate through are also nice, being made in two halves for ease of access and with an oiling hole that can be seen in the photo below.

At the time I rebuilt the note bed I also did some work to the damping mechanism, but really it requires new components made or replaced which was outside of my remit. My feelings are that the mechanism is a bit too complicated and certainly the spring is too powerful.

Along with all of the above work the notes were also tuned to bring it up to current pitch. The range is not standard which may or may not be is an issue, but the quality of the bars is great and tonality is great having that vintage sound.

I guess I made my feelings clear in the video about my dislike of these vintage frames. However they are really well made just not very practical for modern use and like all instruments from this era, they were built for dwarfs. But just look below to see how small everything packs up!

If you are interested in buying this instrument please send me an email and we can discuss the next stage.

In my possession I have a really nice example of a Premier 751 vibraphone for sale complete with a full set of cases which are also in excellent condition. The video below looks at the instrument in detail including a section of higher quality audio recording so you can listen to it.

As can be seen from the video, I have had to do some work to the instrument to get it into perfect working order repairing the damage caused by an instrument repairer! There are some minor issues that are irreparable but I have mitigated these with the exception being the holes drilled through the legs and the damage caused to the paintwork by the oversized casters. These casters were probably fitted for a valid reason at the time, but the new owner would be advised to change them.

The price takes into consideration the overall condition of the instrument in comparison to the all the instruments that I have worked on over the years. As I state in the video, it looks almost new. There has been a bit of repainting, but there are hardly any tell tale scratches which are an indication of how much the vibraphone has been thrown in and out of cars, or not.

In addition to the overall condition of the vibe, it also has a new motor system which immediately inflates the price since these are a costly investment. The vibraphone also comes with the aforementioned cases which retail at £600.

As I have indicated, I will accept offers. If you are interested contact me here: email